Hearing for Haledon police chief on sexual harassment claim is delayed again

HALEDON — A disciplinary hearing for Police Chief Louis Mercuro concerning sexual harassment complaints and other matters is now set to begin Wednesday, lawyers said, after being canceled yet again Monday.

Hearing officer Nita G. Paval was unable to attend on Monday because of a medical issue, said Stuart Alterman, Mercuro's lawyer.

Procedural issues have delayed the hearings several times since they were first scheduled in December. Mercuro late last year was suspended with pay, pending the outcome of the hearings. Superior Court Judge Thomas Brogan reinstated Mercuro on Feb. 28, ruling that the suspension was improper because he wasn't given a hearing.

The borough has not disclosed the complaints against Mercuro, saying they're personnel matters. But Mercuro's lawyer has said the sexual harassment claim stems from an off-color joke the police chief reportedly told in the presence of two female department employees. In the other complaint, Mercuro is accused of leaving his service handgun unattended at police headquarters. Haledon PBA 349, at the Nov. 7 council meeting in which the union declared a vote of no-confidence in the chief, said Mercuro left his handgun in the communications room of police headquarters while attending to prisoners.

A procedural question that contributed to delays was whether the hearings should be open to the public. Mercuro's lawyers, claiming the chief had nothing to hide, argued successfully that they should be open.

The latest issue centers on whether Mercuro's attorneys can introduce information about an April 12 PBA 349 event at La Neve's, a Belmont Avenue catering hall, in which they allege Detective Lt. Chris LeMay, who has an ongoing lawsuit against Mercuro and the borough, became intoxicated and acted uncontrollably, according to court documents in the LeMay lawsuit. LeMay filed his suit in 2012, alleging Mercuro retaliated against him for signing a written affidavit supporting a former councilwoman's claims of sexual harassment against Mercuro.

Mercuro's lawyers argue the information about the event is relevant because, they allege, LeMay is involved in a political vendetta against Mercuro that led to the recent complaints.

Mercuro's lawyers are asking the Passaic County Prosecutor's Office to release its file on an internal affairs investigation concerning LeMay and events "on or about April 13, 2014," the day after the incident at La Neve's. Police officers from Haledon and North Haledon are reported to have visited the lieutenant's house on that day. A North Haledon police report said LeMay had "shortness of breath" and was given oxygen before being taken to St. Joseph's Regional Medical Center in Paterson.

In a June 5 letter to Brogan, the Prosecutor's Office opposed releasing the file, and the judge later rejected a request from Mercuro's lawyers' that it be made public.